FORT SILL, Okla. (Oct. 24, 2013) -- October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and the Fort Sill Warrior Transition Unit sponsored an awareness symposium Oct. 16 in the Murari Room at Reynolds Army Community Hospital.
Capt. Justin Crowe, WTU commander, greeted the attendees and told them one of the reasons the WTU wanted to sponsor the event was to focus on the importance of cancer screening.
"Breast cancer doesn't only strike women. A male Soldier can get breast cancer as well." Crowe said. "This awareness is for your own health as well as your family members and your extended family."
Crowe said Capt. Sharon Pickett, a nurse case manager for the WTU, coordinated the event because breast cancer awareness is very important to her.
"I have many family members who I have lost through this disease. I have also had many of my patients back in California diagnosed with breast cancer, where I am an active reservist and a women's health care practitioner," Pickett said. "That's when I started putting things together to provide better community health care."
Pickett said she learned how to draw on the resources of the community when she needed to provide health care education and services.
"I looked at the resources here and was able to get the folks from Cancer Centers of Southwest Oklahoma and the American Cancer Society branch here in Oklahoma, along with the staff at RACH," she said.
Kristin Scherzer, an oncology nurse navigator from the Cancer Center, gave the first presentation. She began by defining cancer.
"Cancer, as defined by the National Cancer Institute, is a disease in which abnormal cells divide without being controlled and are able to invade other tissues. We don't know the exact causes of breast cancer. It is most likely caused by mutations of DNA in the cells," Scherzer said. "When you talk about DNA and cell mutation, you think about genetics and inheritance. Did my mom have it? Did my aunt have it? Am I going to get it? There are just so many factors."
Scherzer went on to say that not all cancers are inherited, and not all breast cancers are inherited - less than 10 percent.
"Just because a person has a specific mutation, doesn't automatically mean they are going to develop cancer. It just means they are at a higher risk," she said.
Scherzer then listed risk factors for breast cancer.
- Gender: Women are more likely to get it than men.
- Age: 1-in-8 invasive breast cancers are found in women over the age of 45. Two-out-of-3 invasive breast cancers are found in women ages 55 and older.
- Family history: Risk increases in those women who have close family members with breast cancer. Having a first-degree relative, someone who shares 50 percent of your DNA mother, sister or daughter who have breast cancer will double a woman's risk. If you have two first-degree relatives who have breast cancer, that will increase your chances three-fold.
- Obesity: Overweight women have increased chances of developing breast cancer.
- Alcohol consumption and lack of exercise can increase risks.
"Race can also play a role in who develops breast cancer. White women are diagnosed more often than any racial group. However, in African-American women, more aggressive cancers are often found. Asian, Hispanic and Native American women have a lower risk of developing breast cancer and a lower risk of dying from it," Scherzer said.
"That's why screening for breast cancer is important for early detection will save lives. If women took advantage of the screenings that were offered, many more lives could be saved. If a tumor is picked up as result of a screening, it will usually be smaller with a better prognosis for the patient. And, detection before the cancer has a chance to spread provides the best chance of cure," she said.
Registered nurse Susie McCoy, also an oncology nurse navigator from the Cancer Center, said that even when a woman has been diagnosed with breast cancer there is still hope.
"We try to educate our patients when they come to the cancer centers because we believe that knowledge will decrease their fears," McCoy said. "There are five stages of cancer and each stage represents the progression of the disease. As the complexity increases the level of the treatment has to increase. We need to know the level of the patient's disease to determine the treatment."
McCoy listed the stages of breast cancers:
- Stages 0 and 1 -- Represent the earliest detection of breast cancer. Cancer is confined to a very limited area in the breast.
- Stages 2 and 2A -- Still early stages, but shows evidence the cancer has begun to grow or spread.
- Stages 3A, B and C - Considered advanced cancer with evidence that disease has invaded surrounding tissues of the lymph nodes around the breast and under the arm.
Stage 4 - Cancer has spread, or metastasized, beyond the breast to the liver, lungs, brain or bones. This is the most severe stage and patients often do not survive.
"The stages of breast cancer are based on the size of the tumor within the breast, the number of lymph nodes affected, the nearest lymph nodes found under the arm and signs indicating whether the cancer has invaded other organs or areas within the body. These factors help us determine what level of treatment should be pursued," McCoy said.
"Mammograms are not the only screening tool, and in fact, the use of more than one screening method for breast cancer provides the most benefit. Clinical exams, self-breast exams, MRIs and ultrasounds are also used. Earliest detection usually results in a smaller tumor and can be detected before it has spread," Scherzer said. "See your doctor regularly and take good care of yourself. If something looks different or is bothering you, go have a medical provider look at it, because it needs to be evaluated.
"Don't put it off, because detection before cancer has a chance to spread provides the best chance for a cure," Scherzer said.
For more information, contact the Cancer Centers of Southwest Oklahoma at 580-536-2121 or www.cancercentersswok.com. One can also go to the American Cancer Society website at www.cancer.org/cancer/ breastcancer.
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